chefcook

Hello guys, today Panerai presented very interesting new watches on the SIHH in Geneva. A link to Panerais Press Kit: http://www.pulli.com/sihh2011/PRESS_KIT_SIHH2011_English.pdf To summarize the news a little: Luminor 1950 3 Days - PAM00372 47mm steel case with 3mm thick plexi on the front, sapphire case back. Panerai says this should be something inbetween Radiomir and Luminor as it has a more cusion like shaped case but features the Luminor crown guard. The black sandwich dial lumed with vintage-look Superluminova is engraved like on the vintage pieces! Movement is the P3000, Panerais new hand wind three days movement. In this version it is a "base" movement (no running seconds). Limited to 3000 watches. Radiomir 3 Days Platino - PAM00373 47mm platinum case with white gold buckle, 2.8mm thick plexi on the front, sapphire case back. The brown sandwich dial is like on the 372 lumed with vintage-look Superluminova and engraved! Same movement as above. Limited to 199 pieces. Luminor Composite 1950 3 Days - PAM00375 Classic 47mm 1950 case but made from brown composite Aluminium material which according to Panerai should be exceptional light and durable. Sapphire crystals both front and back. Brown sandwich dial with vintage-look Superluminova. Handwind P3000/1 movement with running seconds at nine. No limitations, standard production model. Luminor Composite Marina 1950 3 Days Automatic - PAM00386 Basically a 312 with brown dial and composite case like 375. No limitations, standard production model. Radiomir 8 Days Ceramica - PAM00384 Basically a current 8 days Radiomir in a black ceramic case. No limitations, standard production model. Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Bronzo - PAM00382 Basically a 305 Submersible but finished in Bronze CuSn8 and dark green dial! This is one of the most interesting Panerai I've seen so far. While the case is completely made from bronze the buckle is made from titanium. Limited to 1000 units. Luminor 1950 Chrono Monopulsante Left-Handed 8 Days Titanio - PAM00345 A 311 in destro version, limited to 150 units. Luminor 1950 Left-Handed 8 Days Titanio - PAM00368 47mm brushed Titanium with sapphire both front and back. Brown sandwich dial with running seconds at three, gilt hands, no power reserve indicator on the dial. P2002/9 hand wound movement with 8 days power reserve. Limited to 1000 units. I really hope on a well finished Unitas with bridges modded to P3000 appearance. The P3000 has the sime diameter as the Unitas, so maybe there is a chance to see a 6498 (yes, 6498, not 6497. Currently used 6497 has to much difference in it's layout) with transfer gears for seconds at nine. The 372 really will be a stunner!

And now make the buckle 22mm thumbnail design

The movement does not look very nice but as far as I know it actually is a Lemania 5100 reengineered for mass production. The 5100 is quite a good movement and could be found in Sinns, Omegas and other very nice watches.

Wow, that really looks amazing!

I'd recommend The Zigmeister in Canada for both movement service and luming. Another very good relumer is Vaccum (US based). But just one question: Are you from Texas, maybe Sugarland?

I already tried using wholesaleoutlets (WSO) bezel assembly on a WM9 V1 sub. I purchased a whole kit from WSO including 18k bezel, crystal retainting ring, washer, click spring and bezel insert. In addition I had a genuine bezel insert. To make it short it was very problematic to get these things working. First try: Complete WSO bezel assembly on V1 case. Worked, but the WSO crystal retainer had only a very loose fit on the V1 case. One could pull it off with bare hands and the case was not watertight anymore. Second try: WSO bezel and V1 crystal retainer on V1 case. With both V1 and WSO washers the bezel was not rotatable, without the washer it was spinning freely and the click spring did not work. Third and final try: WSO bezel, WSO washer (slightly thinner) and turned down V1 crystal retainer on V1 case. This worked after taking some material from the crystal retainer to make more room for the WSO bezel. After making the WSO bezel rotatable on the V1 case I wanted to use my genuine bezel insert which was too small for the WSO bezel and had to be glued in place. To summarize it: Leave WSOs complete Kits behind, only get the bezel ring. The rest is crap. Search for someone with a lathe who can make the V1 crystal retainer work with the WSO bezel. Funnily the V1 crystal retainer is a direct swap for the genuine crystal retainer regarding its fit on the case (NOT the bezel ring!), so I assume that WSO's retaining ring is nothing near being 1:1.

Not lining up is one thing, not having the correct engraving the other. Gens DO have the correct engraving as the angle between every letter is the same as between every minute line. On the reps the engraving does not line up because of a wrong font and size for the engraving.

We need the different cases to make a case that actually is produceable. A copy of the steel case simply would not work!!! Another massive drawback is that the crown position would most probably look horrible compared to the steel cases when making a thicker case (crown would optically seem to be up even more than on the steel cases). At the moment I do not have a solution for this.

Someone (can't remember who it was, sorry) here told me that it helps polishing the end of the WM9 click spring to get a nicer feeling. I've never tried, but at least it's within imagination... I made my own spring from spring wire and was happy with that.

I found a picture of the missing piece: have a look, the solid gold case actually is hollow where the gen steel cases are filled: In the meantime I found the weight of a 16200 Datejust (old style): 102g. So the current solid linked Datejusts are considerably heavier as they have the same about 125g the 116000 Oyster Perpetual has. EDIT: Much more interesting: Where the old style 18238 had between 130 and 140g the 118238, it's successor, has a weight of around 180g!!! So obviously Rolex now does fill the gold cases. 2nd EDIT: According to this LINK (CLICKY) the old style 18238 had closed but hollow mid links. The more I am looking for info on weight of gen Day-Dates the more I believe that we actually can build at least an old style Day-Date (the one with brushed lugs) that has a nearly accurate weight without containing a single gram of gold.

But seeing that a gen Oyster Perpetual 116000 is only 10g lighter than a solid gold gen Day Date of the same size it seems that the case construction of the gen solid gold cases must be different. According to some gen forums the gen solid gold 18238 old style case weighs 38.6g including the bezel, crown and case back. The bracelet with all links should be about 73.1g. With Movement holder, dial, crystal, gaskets and movement this all sums up to 143g according to my scale with all links and 134 with two links taken out of the bracelet. If a full sized solid genuine president band (those always were considered to be solid) is 73.1g and made from 18k gold (16.7 g/cm^3) it should have a weight of only 34.3g made of steel. For comparison: Rep 93150 bracelet comes in at 58g and has hollow mid links, sheet metal end links and a sheet metal clasp. For me it seems that something is missing in this puzzle.

when looking at an old datejust rep case (36mm) I think that one could gain at least 8g by using a movement holder made from tungsten. I think I calculated that about a year ago... of course the feeling on the wrist would be different as the bracelet is the heaviest part on gen Day Dates, but at least the overall weight would be nearer to the gen.

Hello guys, unfortunately I do not have a 36mm Day Date rep but I'd be very interested in knowing the weight of these. As they usually come with solid bracelets I assume they are noticeably heavier than lets say an Explorer 36mm with hollow mid links? My genuine 116000 Oyster Perpetual with solid bracelet comes in at about 125g sized for my 7" wrist which is about the same as a genuine or replica 40mm Submariner 16610. My fathers solid yellow gold genuine Day Date 18238 sized for the same wrist size is only 10 grams heavier which actually is barely noticeable on the wrist. IMO if we could get a 36mm Day Date rep a little over 130g it would be a good match regarding the weight... Cheers and regards!

RED lume?!?

Hello guys, I have a very nice cartel 45mm Radiomir case and I am currently building a perfect 210 for me. Unfortunately the case only has a mineral crystal. Does anyone of you know if a DSN Radiomir sapphire crystal fits the cartel case? Thanks and regards!

No updates. It will take a while. Just making a SS replacement with same dimensions definitely will not work.

Joshua just informed me that unfortunately the box set is not 1:1 per gen as it does not have the second layer that contains tools and a second strap...

It's a count-down bezel...

Looks like a very good replication IMO: http://www.1-pc8838.com/br03ta01002-br03-type-aviation-ssru-black-swiss-p-9568.html If it just wasn't that expensive... Maybe we see a good Breitling Aerospace in future as it uses the same movement afaik.

Damn, maybe I have to get a 288 too...

That's what I thought when looking at the pics, too. Wear it well!

I currently have one on my desk and I have to admit that I could not imagine those movements to be as badly made as they are. Crap in a new dimension.

when it comes to Rolex you are completely right, Mr. Unpronouncable

The cheapest Datejust with 3135 currently offered on chrono24.com is 1873 euros or 2468 USD. Offering 600 USD for a '96 datejust either means rip off for one of both parties in the deal or not knowing the market situation and worth of such watches.

The movements are exactly the same in datejust and submariner, so this should be a direct swap. Don't forget getting gen Submariner hands. If you are going to build an LV franken you might have some problems finding correct hands, so I'd recommend building a black sub. The other questions is: The Datejust will set you back at least 2000 Euros if it is in a condition that does not require a full movement service. Then you'll need hands, a BK WM9 V3 and the work to get all together, so you'd maybe spend 2800 Euros. Why not spending 400 Euros more and getting a used gen sub 16610 in good condition with box and papers? With some negotiating they usually go in the 3200 Euro range here in Europe. Not long ago you could get a NEW 14060 no date sub for 3400 Euros...